I have had surgery twice on L4/L5. The first one was 10 years ago and it was laser surgery and I was ok in 3 weeks. This last one was open back surgery and has taken me an entire year to recover. I thought that every ortho uses laser and open back was a thing of the past. I was wrong because I assumed. I think the key to alot of people avoiding surgery is to strenghthen their core and back muscles. It takes 6-8 weeks. But it depends on what the specialist thinks as well. I would only use a neurosurgeon or an ortho spine specialist for surgery. Not every ortho is for spines. Surgery should alsways be last option for many reasons.